The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

The premise of HGTV’s Rehab Addict is simple: The show’s star, and home remodeler Nicole Curtis buys a historic home in Detroit or Minneapolis that has been ravaged by years of neglect and returns it to its former glory. But nearly five years after purchasing one Minneapolis property, the city is suing Curtis, claiming she hasn’t done the work, resulting in complaints from neighbors and piled-up bills. [More]

You don’t have to overcook your budget to revamp your kitchen. Be willing to get your materials from unorthodox places, as well as learn how to do some of the improvements yourself, and you can end up with a better-looking kitchen than your neighbor at a fraction of the cost. [More]

The Aqua Pool & Spa company in California had been building pools for over 20 years and had built up a good reputation, but after a bank went under and called in a $3 million loan, the company abruptly laid off everyone last week and shut its doors. Now everyone who was in the process of getting a pool built is stuck with torn up yards and half-finished pools. What’s worse, subcontractors are now dunning those customers for payment for services or supplies, even when the homeowners already paid (through Aqua Pool & Spa) months earlier. [More]

Starting the middle of next year, Walt Disney will be rolling out a new version of its mall store format that is intended to suck in your child like a fairy princess crack pipe. “The goal is to make children clamor to visit the stores and stay longer,” writes Brooks Barnes in the New York Times, by using things like embedded chips in the packaging to trigger responses from the store’s furnishings, a rotating library of scents that fill the store, and karaoke.

Thomas says his wife was approached by a belligerent salesman the other day regarding the windows on their home. He tried to get her to agree to an instant estimate and promised a huge discount for being a “model home” for the window upgrades, but when she refused to make an instant decision, Thomas says he “snatched the card out of her hand” and “yelled at her.”

Despite all the media attention, buying well-made, affordable products that are also environmentally sound is still a difficult task. Kiplinger’s “Shopping Guide to Eco-Friendly Products” offers several suggestions to help you buy green and get a solid deal on major appliances, lawn care, building supplies, and home maintenance.

As Linda alludes to at the end of the newscast, the real problem lies in that Home Depot customers are forced to pay for their services in full, upfront. Typically, contractors don’t get full payment until the job is completed to the customer’s satisfaction. By denying customers this crucial check and balance, Home Depot encourages sloth and incompetence.

Don MacAskill (pictured) is sitting in an unfinished $130,000 kitchen with two prematurely born babies. Home Depot said the kitchen would be done 9 months ago by Owens Corning HOMExperts . The home improvement store assured him that, “being a large corporation, they would have lots of control and organization around the project, and the contractors would be incentivized to finish the job quickly and thoroughly.”

Home Depot claims you won’t have to deal with subcontractors, but they do use subcontractors. When something goes wrong, and consumers complain, Home Depot avoids or ignores their repeated phone calls and letters.

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